Conventional digital cameras based upon the camera obscura typically include a single focal plane with a lens stack. The focal plane includes an array of light sensitive pixels and is part of a sensor. The lens stack creates an optical channel that forms an image of a scene upon the array of light sensitive pixels in the focal plane. Each light sensitive pixel can generate image data based upon the light incident upon the pixel.
In response to the constraints placed upon a conventional digital camera, a new class of cameras that can be referred to as array cameras has been proposed. Array cameras are characterized in that they include an imager array that has multiple arrays of pixels, where each pixel array is intended to define a focal plane, and each focal plane has a separate lens stack. Typically, each focal plane includes a plurality of rows of pixels that also forms a plurality of columns of pixels, and each focal plane is contained within a region of the imager that does not contain pixels from another focal plane. An image is typically formed on each focal plane by its respective lens stack. In many instances, the array camera is constructed using an imager array that incorporates multiple focal planes and an optic array of lens stacks.